By Mike Simmons
Picture this…a cop drinking a cup of coffee in a diner. Looks kinda natural, doesn’t it? Maybe he has a donut, maybe not. Maybe he (or she) orders grits and eggs for breakfast, a cheeseburger for lunch, or even some scrambled eggs in the middle of the night. It is a sight seen all over Pensacola, or it used to be. Most officers eat healthier these days.
Maybe it was Krispy Kreme at 9th and Cervantes, Premier Bakery at “E” and Garden, the Village Inn in front of Cordova Mall, or even a McDonald’s in various locations across town. A popular place in the 1930s was the People’s Diner at Alcaniz and Gregory Streets. It came down years ago, before Interstate 110 was extended to downtown. Some people frequented Child’s Restaurant on Palafox Street or even the San Carlos Hotel. And who could forget Jerry’s Drive In in East Pensacola Heights?
However, there are three cornerstones that have stood the test of time. Each of them has its own personality, and each welcomes lawmen.
The first one is the newest. It’s located at 9th and Gregory. They call it the East Side Precinct. The Waffle House is a popular restaurant 24-7. In the mornings, it pours coffee to bleary-eyed people who are just getting out of bed and starting their day. For lunch, tourists know that it will serve the same hash browns (smothered, covered, etc.) as every other Waffle House in the South. At night, when most places are either closed or peaceful and lonely, the Waffle House is bursting with business, mostly from the bars that have just closed. The patrons don’t want to go home yet, so they – usually a little tipsy – want to go get breakfast. Although the ever-patient servers put up with drunk talk, silly antics and sometimes fights, they look forward to the good tips. Occasionally, however, they must call their buddy the midnight lawman in to escort the slightly inebriated person into a cab.
The second one has changed names several times over the years, but is still a Garden Street staple. It was known as the West Side Precinct. In the 1950s and 60s, it was called The Toddle House. In the 1980s – early 2000s, it was called “The Steak and Egg Kitchen.” In recent years, the old building has been renamed C.J.s Kitchen and Grille. It used to be open all night, but in recent years, the owners have decided that the good tips were not worth the repairs they had to make due to the damage inflicted by bar-goers. It is located at 2100 W. Garden Street, or, as it is more popularly referred to by officers, ’N’ and Garden.
The last one is, of course, a Pensacola icon. The Coffee Cup is the ever-present embodiment of Pensacola on the northeast corner of 6th Avenue and Cervantes Street. Rickety chairs and old tables are part of the charm. The food is as good as it gets when it is kept simple. When someone from out of town wants breakfast, I take them to the Coffee Cup. It’s not just breakfast – it is an experience. Is there any food “to die for?” Probably, but I don’t know of any. I liked it all. If you are a Pensacolian, will you see someone you know? Probably.
But the charm of each of these southern diners is, and always will be, the people, especially the ladies, that serve. Now, I know it is politically correct to refer to them as “servers,” but in many places in the South, and especially in those three restaurants, they prefer to be called “waitresses.” Lori, Laureen, Iris, Donna, Martha, Ruthie, Dot, Norma, Lela, and a host of others were the draw of them. Sure, they called you “Honey,” “Darlin,’” and a bunch of other incorrect, endearing terms, but the appeal, the charisma, the attraction to these mainstays were the genius of these ladies to, with a pot of hot coffee in hand, be able to remember your order, remember your name, and remember the banter that the two of you had last time you came in.
Unforgettable.
Great article Mike, thanks for sharing.
My pleasure!
What about the Dainty Dell?
Yep. Loved that place!
As a mid-sixties police officer in the old Southampton City police force in Southampton UK, I read with interest your whistle-stop tour of places cops could eat. In 1966 there was a canteen in Southampton Central run by the force. However, at night, all service stopped and people could cook their own food. Who can forget the haphazard storage and the hopeful person who would put their mid night sandwich and drink in the fridge? Anything edible would disappear on the next door opening! The time that the instructions on a tin of beans to “heat in a saucepan” was taken to mean put the unopened tin into a metal saucepan resulting in beans all over the ceiling after it exploded and the familiar smell of burned toast and passing coppers remarking “Sarge in early tonight”?
All gone now of course along with a friendly cuppa with the staff at the back of a Chinese restaurant late at night, the warning that a back door was open, the warming snifter in the dead of night. Now it’s vending machines in the corridor or an extra pizza sneaked from a delivery from a prisoner in custody.
My main claim to fame was a breakneck “blue-and-twos” shout to the local red light district where a woman officer was needed to care for a baby. The corridor to an exit was too long from the canteen, so I had to be bundled out of the window to the waiting police car. But then I was only 21, a leggy redhead and Health and Safety regulations were just a dream on the horizon for a politician somewhere on a trip which was nothing to do with travel.
Happy Days
Incredible stories! Thank you for them! By the way, my wife and I are headed to the Police History Society conference in Leatherhead in November. Looking forward to seeing your beautiful countryside!
Mike